Movies Seen in 2012

A Crack in the Earth (1964) -- *** (a solid pre-Star Wars science-fiction film)
AEon Flux (2005) -- *** (great commentary on the decay caused by constant recycling, substitute people for franchises and you'll see the film was ahead of its time)
Barbarella (1968) - N/A (so bad it's good... so I can't bring myself to call it one-star even though I should)
The Andromeda Strain (1971) -- **1/2 (I don't care if Robert Wise directed it, it's over-rated)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - ** (don't argue, let's just agree to disagree)
Mr. Deeds (2002) - **1/2 (better than I expected because I usually can't stand Adam Sandler)
Prometheus (2012) -- **** (a much more ambitious concept than the Alien series, and I'm a bigger Alien fan than Star Trek)
Take Me Home (2011) -- ***1/2 (a good romantic comedy and road movie rolled into one)
The Transatlantic Tunnel (1935) -- **1/2 (not bad per se, but a little plodding)
When Do We Eat? (2005) -- *** (not recommended for the more conservative-minded)

I use a four-star scale. Yeah, this has been more of a TV year for me.

I don't remember if I saw AEon Flux the beginning of this year, or the end of last, but I'll throw it in anyway.

Soon I'll be adding Argo, Skyfall, and A Cabin in the Woods to the list.

One more thing: I got to see Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in a theater this past summer. I'd only ever seen it on VHS or DVD. TFF was the first Star Trek film I saw in the theater. It didn't convert me. I didn't become a fan, in fact, until I saw TVH on video when my parents bought it around the beginning of 1991. We only had a VCR for six months at that point.

This was the second feature at the Screening Room's weekly "Birth of Horror" series, which I didn't actually get to see, because the Queen's Law Journal annoyingly scheduled an overlapping work session. But I rented it anyway, to watch on a considerably smaller screen, and having seen it I regret not getting a chance to see it theatres. Every appearance by the titular giant ape is captivating -- I can imagine what it would have been like to see this onscreen in 1933, and while effects have obviously advanced enormously since then, the knowledge of how much work this would have been means that the scenes keep their "wow" factor in a way many other films with dated special effects don't. The characters are mostly forgettable, but whatever, this is a rare film that I found very enjoyable to watch despite how almost every scene has been referenced, parodied, and copied ad infinitum.

Seeing this also means I've now seen at least one film from every year from 1930 to the present.

This film is basically several people talking in one room, so it needed a strong script and strong actors to make it work - it's got the great script and for the most part the actors are very good as well. The concept is brilliant (a man trying to convince his friends that he is an immortal), so I am thankful that they pulled it off so well.

286. The Ides of March (✩✩✩✩½) - Blu-ray - A campaign manager stick handles his way through the machinations of the political system as he works to get a govornor elected to the presidency. Stars Ryan Gosling and directed by George Clooney. It also has an impressive supporting cast that includes Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marissa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Gregory Itzin and Evan Rachel Wood. It was adapted from a play called Farragut North. It's writer based the story and its characters on his own experiences with a recent political campaign. The movie was raw, very gripping, pretty cynical, and I liked the turns and developments. It also looked like George Clooney, who plays the candidate, infused a bit of his own politics into the movie through his character.

287. The Last Unicorn (✩✩✩✩) - Blu-ray - I don't review movies in this thread that I've already seen, but I'm reviewing this one because I don't think I really saw it the first time when it was shown at my school in the early 80s as part of movie day. So here we go... I really saw it this time and did so with fresh new eyes. This is an animated movie about a lone unicorn that sets out to find others of her kind that were driven away by the Red Bull. I remember the Red Bull being pretty scary as well as a bit at the end, but not much else. The bull wasn't as scary this time around, but the movie itself is pretty good. It had what I thought were some good insights into the spiritual side of life. I was also surprised at the mild nudity with an emphasis on bosoms. I'm just surprised that a kids movie could get away with showing such content. Anyway, as far as animated movies go, this is one of the better ones.

288. Daybreakers (✩✩✩✩) - Live TV - Most of the human race has turned into vampires and the blood supply is running out. Stars Ethan Hawke and Sam Neill. It was a pretty solid movie with a decent commentary on the pharmaceutical industry.

289. From Dusk Till Dawn (✩✩✩✩½) - Live TV - Finally saw this. It never looked very good to me, so I wasn't in any rush to see it. Well, I loved it. I like how it's a movie in two parts. Part one is pretty grounded with two criminals on the run with a family held hostage, but then it goes all wacky when it shifts gears and turns into a vampire slasher horror movie. I also loved the Tarantino-style B-movie/70s exploitation schlock. It really added a sense of fun to the action. And here's one of my favorite parts...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiCjUNI1GC0[/yt]

George Clooney pretty much says it all.

290. Post Grad (✩✩✩½) - Live TV - An ambitious college grad finds her perfect plans dashed when she doesn't get her dream job and can't find work. Stars Alexis Bledel and Michael Keaton. Bledel was a joy to watch and Michael Keaton was a real hoot. This was the funniest I've seen him.

Man I was surprised on how slow and boring this movie was. There's barely any action, it really is just guys sitting in a dark room whispering stuff, and I was somewhat disappointed because the hype for this movie was pretty good I remember. The only reason I gave it a C- was because Gary Oldman was very good and the music was atmospheric. Other than that, this isn't a movie I would seek out to watch again.

RockNRolla: I jumped this one up the queue cause of Tom Hardy. Didn't realize he was in it when I put it in there. I really liked the story but some of the humor didn't work for me otherwise I might've gone with A. Good cast, worth checking out for sure imo.

Went over to the Drafthouse S Lamar this afternoon for a Universal double feature.

First up, the Boris Karloff original Mummy movie...I still like the Brendan Fraser version, but this one wasn't bad, considerin' its age.

Waited about an hour, and then got into a restored 3D print of Creature from the Black Lagoon. I enjoyed it, too, especially the underwater sequences in 3D.

Still workin' my way through the unrated director's cut of Paranormal Activity 3, or else I'd add it to the list, too.

- edit, to add -

Finished the director's (directors'? since there were two of 'em, right?) cut of PA3 this mornin'. Only noticed a few differences (mostly involvin' Randy, the assistant, early on) and the bit with the babysitter & the blanket is still the best part of the movie.

Decided to skip the free screenin' of Cloud Atlas tonight, went to an early bird matinee of Alex Cross, instead.

I agree with Captain Craig, the shaky cam durin' the final fight sequence was out of place and annoyin'. Completely unnecessary.

And I don't see why this couldn't have just been a generic cop drama. They just used Alex Cross for the name, or brand or whatever, 'cause the character Tyler Perry was playin' wasn't the same guy from the books.

But, I will give 'em credit for not usin' an origin story to develop Alex Cross as a bad ass detective/profiler. No flashbacks to the police academy or medical school. They didn't have to show him assemblin' his team, they were already there. And the movie kicked off with 'em chasin' a baddie. Kinda wish the folks who made superhero movies would follow this approach.

Think I may go see Seven Psychopaths tomorrow. For sure goin' to see An American Werewolf in London tomorrow night...

While buying Moonrise Kingdom on a visit to FutureShop, they had a few of the new James Bond Blu-rays there (in addition to the huge set) for $9. I got this, which I'd seen before, but not in many years, as well as On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is rated as one of the best but I've never gotten around to seeing it.

Anyway, I'd say this is a pretty decent movie, though not as good as I remembered when I saw it in the 90s (much younger then, was I). The Brosnan films (the first three, anyway) had really good villains, and Pryce's Carver is a lot of fun. Most of the one-liners are horrible, but then, that's Bond for you; there's probably a tone about halfway between this and some of the grimmer parts of the Craig films that would likely be ideal for the franchise. There are a number of examples of mid-90s CGI that haven't aged especially well.

The best thing about the film is (as, I remembered) Michelle Yeoh's ass-kicking Wai Lin, by far the most useful Bond girl the franchise has ever had. If she and Brosnan had any real sexual chemistry, she'd be easily the best; as it is, she's an awesome partner for 007, but they don't exactly light up the screen, so she'll have to settle for being one of the best.

I Love You, Man: This is one of my favorite comedies of the past ten years; I've seen it four times now and it has never become stale. At times, the actors are obviously riffing rather than working from a carefully-structured screenplay, but they pull it off more often than not.

I've also recently seen The Thin Red Line and Hollywoodland, neither of which I've been able to make my mind up about yet. Money is still tight, so I probably won't see anything else new in the theater this year outside of Skyfall (I've seen every Bond film in the theatre since Tomorrow Never Dies; it's a tradition at this point).

291. Surrogates (✩✩✩✩) - Live TV - The world has become a place where everyone stays at home, hooked up to a device that allows them to live and interact through artificial bodies called surrogates. The advantage of this is that you can look any way you want and even live without concern for injury since artifical bodies can be replaced. Everything seems to be going fine until two surrogates are destroyed, killing their owners in the process, something that shouldn't happen. This prompts two cops to investigate. Stars Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell and Ving Rhames. This is a solid piece of scifi as much as it is an action thriller and the movie's commentary on wanting to be young and look perfect is delivered well. The only hicup is Willis' character's sudden change of heart after 14 years of happily using a surrogate himself. It's also fun to watch the characters and wonder what their real selves look like.

292. Cabin Fever (✩) - Live TV - A bunch of teens rent out a cabin for the week and a flesh-eating disease stars consuming them. Pure crap and no notable stars. I managed to sit through it though, so that gets it a star.

293. Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (✩✩) - Live TV - As bad as the first one, but it had some racy bits that I liked, so that gets it an extra star.

294. The Groomsmen (✩✩✩½) - DVD - Another one of Edward Burns' slice-of-life movies about relationships. This one deals with five buddies and their lives. The fact that one of them is about to get married is peripheral to the real story but provides a title. It's a good movie that starts slow, but gets and hold your attention before long. You also get to see Brittany Murphy three years before she passed away. Another thing I found interesting about the movie was the setting. It took place in what looked like a new England coastal community, but then I found out that it was shot in and took place in New York City. City island in the northern part of The Bronx to be exact. I never knew that parts of New York City looked like that.

295. Exotica (✩✩✩✩) - DVD - Atom Egoyan's 1994 movie about a bunch of seemingly random people who's lives either become or are shown to be interconnected in interesting ways. "Exotica" is the name of the Toronto strip club that a lot of the drama is centered around. Stars Bruce Greenwood, Mia Kirshner, Don McKellar, Elias Koteas, Sarah Polley and Victor Garber. Like a lot of Egoyan's movies, this one makes little sense and isn't always easy to follow, but I'm giving it a generous score because I enjoyed the ensemble cast and loved seeing some of Mia Kirshner's early work. This was also the first time I thought that Kirshner might have made a great Catwoman.

First off, Breaking Training doesn't make any sense to me. The team lost at the end of the first movie, and yet, somehow are declared the champions of their league and invited to play a charity game against a team in the Houston Astrodome. Fine, okay, whatever...but when the team runs late in gettin' from California to Houston, Texas, another, closer team is called in. If the closer team were available, why weren't they invited instead of the Bears? The winnin' team is supposed to get a trip to Japan to play against Little League champs there, which sets up the sequel....

...but in the second sequel, the Bears lack sponsorship to go to Japan, and somehow they volunteer to go, because no one else will...but they won the trip at the end of the first sequel. Why wouldn't that get them there, instead of a shady con man played by Tony Curtis?

Also, Jackie Earle Haley was freakin' creepy in Go to Japan, stalkin' that poor girl and askin' to stay the night at her place before askin' her name.

And I've got my ticket to see An American Werewolf in London tonight, seatin' should open in about five, ten minutes.

George Lazenby's s sole outing as 007, sandwiched within Sean Connery's tenure. Lazenby is at best okay in the role, and it seems strange to pick a man with no real acting experience for one of the few films to really try to give James Bond character depth. Lazenby's blandness aside, it's a strong movie. The direction of the right scenes, in particular, is remarkably kinetic; you feel the blows, unlike most fight scenes from the period.

Hollywoodland: The framing story has the ambition to be Chinatown, but I never found myself that invested in Adrien Brody's private investigator. The real interest here lies in the extensive flashbacks with Ben Affleck as George Reeves. Affleck provides a lot of depth to the role (it's a shame they made him wear an awful prosthetic on his face; he looks enough like Reeves that it wasn't needed). The problem is that the movie keeps cutting away from an interesting bio-pic to a plodding whodunnit (which, of course, can never be resolved). This has the effect of preventing either story from developing much momentum. It's not a bad film, by any means, but it could have been so much more.

God, what a riot that movie was...just ridicuously silly "hauntings" and character motiviations & history that don't even make sense.

Pretty inconsistent, too, with how things in the house are supposed to work.

We stuck around for the postcredit bonus scene for the Mexican spinoff...I hope that its all in Spanish, no subtitles, and American audiences just have to figure out what's up from the reactions & sound effects.

Hollywoodland: The framing story has the ambition to be Chinatown, but I never found myself that invested in Adrien Brody's private investigator. The real interest here lies in the extensive flashbacks with Ben Affleck as George Reeves. Affleck provides a lot of depth to the role (it's a shame they made him wear an awful prosthetic on his face; he looks enough like Reeves that it wasn't needed).

Click to expand...

Saw the movie a few months ago. Didn't know he was wearing a prosthetic.

At first he just looked odd, but with the help of a few low angles, it became more and more apparent that Affleck's face had been altered. Affleck also gained a few pounds, which was fine for the role, but the make-up took me out of it.